Probe: Jet dove, climbed before crash

NEWPORT, R.I. {AP} EgyptAir Flight 990 plunged 17,000 feet and then climbed again, before apparently breaking up in its final dive into the Atlantic, federal investigators said Wednesday.

The description by National Transportation Safety Board officials of the final seconds of Sunday's crash that killed 217 people shows that the plane did not go straight down, said John Clark, deputy director of the NTSB's Office of Research and Engineering.

The NTSB said the Boeing 767 was cruising at 33,000 feet a half-hour after leaving New York for Cairo when it suddenly descended 16,300 feet in a straight line within 40 seconds. At the time, the plane had a ground speed of about 600 knots, or about 690 mph.

Then the plane pitched up and climbed 8,000 feet. Clark said he did not know the cause of the climb, and refused to speculate on whether it was a catastrophic event on board or whether the pilots were struggling to control the aircraft.

Meanwhile, efforts to retrieve the black boxes and pieces of the aircraft were delayed because of high winds.

Preliminary analysis of the radar data appeared to back up the conclusion that the plane broke up before it hit the ocean, Clark said, but he refused to speculate on what the new information would mean to investigators or to consideration of thrust reversers as a possible suspect in the crash.

The information was provided by the U.S. Air Force after an analysis of radar tape.

Officials said it was likely that an analysis of the black boxes when they are recovered would tell whether a thrust reverser had been activated in the air, an event that caused a Boeing 767 to crash in Thailand in 1991. The reverser is intended to slow the plane after landing.